As you guessed it im wondering if any of you fellow aquarium enthusiasts have used or heard anything about the cobalt neo-therm 150w heaters I was gonna put 2 of them in my 75g since my unknown brand heater is taking on water and probably shocking my fish (im taking it out the tank at lunch today) any feedback will help and if I dont like the heaters or people say they are garbage I can just return them but reason I liked them was because brs (bulk reef supply) gave them a great review and ive heard great things about them from amazon.com reviews also the form factor will fit my 20l refugium im building quite nicely
cobalt neo-therm 150w?
- Thread starter halo2rain
- Start date
I use a smaller neotherm in my 50g, wouldn't ever use any other type of heater now.
reefer gladness
Well-Known Member
Reviews are good, I'm sure it will work fine.
Reading the specs though does prompt me to wonder how efficient it is or possibly how manufacturers 'rate' their heaters according to tank size. I've always used Eheim Jager heaters, a 150-watt Jager is rated for tanks between 53-79 gallons. The 150-watt Cobalt is only rated up to 40 gallons.
So... unless there's something funky going on with how these manufacturers rate their heaters the Jager is twice as efficient at less than 1/2 the cost. Two of the 150-watt Cobalts will run you about $140-150 and a single 200-watt Jager is only $30. If it were me - I'd buy the 200-watt Jager heater for a 75G and put the leftover money towards a proper aquarium controller - but that's just me.
Reading the specs though does prompt me to wonder how efficient it is or possibly how manufacturers 'rate' their heaters according to tank size. I've always used Eheim Jager heaters, a 150-watt Jager is rated for tanks between 53-79 gallons. The 150-watt Cobalt is only rated up to 40 gallons.
So... unless there's something funky going on with how these manufacturers rate their heaters the Jager is twice as efficient at less than 1/2 the cost. Two of the 150-watt Cobalts will run you about $140-150 and a single 200-watt Jager is only $30. If it were me - I'd buy the 200-watt Jager heater for a 75G and put the leftover money towards a proper aquarium controller - but that's just me.
I was gonna do that at first but I went into my lfs and saw one.... they are to long and its made of glass yeah I know most all are but when I got my setup off craigslist it came with 7 lol yes 7 heaters 4 of them didnt work 1 of them shocked the crap out of me 1 is stuck on almost fried my fish when I was using it and the other works but fluctuates so bad when I set it I have to fine tune it either 1 or 2 times a day and it is cracked somewhere which I saw this morning and have to take out cause its probably shocking my fish so im trying something different this time I think its just a weird rating system when I get them ill put one in and see if it keeps my 75g up to 80 and ill give yall a review of it im sure they are just really under rated is all
I was gonna do that at first but I went into my lfs and saw one.... they are to long and its made of glass yeah I know most all are but when I got my setup off craigslist it came with 7 lol yes 7 heaters 4 of them didnt work 1 of them shocked the crap out of me 1 is stuck on almost fried my fish when I was using it and the other works but fluctuates so bad when I set it I have to fine tune it either 1 or 2 times a day and it is cracked somewhere which I saw this morning and have to take out cause its probably shocking my fish so im trying something different this time I think its just a weird rating system when I get them ill put one in and see if it keeps my 75g up to 80 and ill give yall a review of it im sure they are just really under rated is all
I think I would toss any heater that came second hand. Most heaters are not that good to start with. After a few years, they can go way down hill.
Part of this rateing of heaters comes from the way it's computed. For years, and I mean like 50 years, 5w of heater per gal of water would considered correct. So for a 50 gal tank, by this rule you'd need a 250w heater.
But it's really not that simple. To be cost effective, you want the minimum heater necessary. This works out to about 2w per gal, so that 50 gal tank would do fine on a 100w heater, unless it's in an unheated location with cold winters.
Another issue is that heaters can fail in the on position, which means that the higher wattage can cook your fish much faster.
Usually going on the low side for power is your best option. Two heaters can give you a fail safe but even so you need to keep an eye on them.
Part of this rateing of heaters comes from the way it's computed. For years, and I mean like 50 years, 5w of heater per gal of water would considered correct. So for a 50 gal tank, by this rule you'd need a 250w heater.
But it's really not that simple. To be cost effective, you want the minimum heater necessary. This works out to about 2w per gal, so that 50 gal tank would do fine on a 100w heater, unless it's in an unheated location with cold winters.
Another issue is that heaters can fail in the on position, which means that the higher wattage can cook your fish much faster.
Usually going on the low side for power is your best option. Two heaters can give you a fail safe but even so you need to keep an eye on them.
swissgaurd
Member
im using 2 x 100 watt bought at christmass.
im using them for breeding clownfish.
I trust them as im using one for my baby clowns.
simple to use and bang on.
oh and customer service from cobalt is top notch.
as i dealt with them for their food,there Omni flake diet is basically what i feed.
vic
im using them for breeding clownfish.
I trust them as im using one for my baby clowns.
simple to use and bang on.
oh and customer service from cobalt is top notch.
as i dealt with them for their food,there Omni flake diet is basically what i feed.
vic
Overlook Reef
Member
I love my cobalt!
GMANONER
New Member
When calculating and trying to figure out which type of wattage heater or heaters to get, do you consider total water volume? Sump and tank? I have a 55g with a 28.5 gallon sump refugium = 83.5 gallons total water volume... I'm thinking of getting 2 150 watt heaters, with controllers...